Chaotic
by MorganHlaalu
Summary: Chaos is in the middle of a gang war. Fighting for many lives, including her own, she must do all she can to survive. Little does she know, this youth born on a certain day to uncertain parents has an even greater destiny...
1. Thief

Chaos lay down heavily, still wearing almost full chitin armor, minus the shield, on the floor some ten feet behind her, and the boots, which she had kicked off just seconds before. It had been a long day, and she was getting old, even for a Bosmer. She was starting feel it in her bones. She was jaded and bitter and saw more and more gray in her (formerly) black hair every day. She certainly was not getting any younger, but she still had a world of work ahead before she could rest in peace, and she had never much liked the ghost idea. She knew she ought to have an apprentice to continue what needed to be done when she was gone, but she didn't have the heart. She thought she probably wasn't a gifted enough mage to come back anyway. 

Chaos was the Nerevarine, the Incarnate, the return of the ancient hero Nerevar. She had met the god-king Vivec, killed Dagoth Ur with less effort than she expected, and received Azura's star, which was now displayed on a shelf in her Hlaalu stronghold. She had loved, lost, lived, and nearly died countless times.

She was also one of the last remaining remnants of the Thieves Guild.

She was the ranking member of the Guild. She was also the only one who had survived the fall of the Camonna Tong. She knew it was up to her to reestablish the Thieves Guild, but she was so old, so tired…

Her eyes drifted shut as she remembered how it all began…

* * *

A young Bosmer walked into the cornerclub. "Hail, Blackcap!" cried most of the men and mers in the place. She gave a grand bow and a smirk in return. She was small, smaller even than most Bosmer, and pretty, with a strong but feminine build, black hair and big, expressive eyes that more than a few hapless mers had gotten lost in when she was working them for one thing or another.

"Do you know where Big Helende is?" Chaos asked the nearest Guild member.

"Ah, you just missed her. She left on a job just twenty minutes ago. She was headed for the docks. I think you may still catch her if you run."

She thanked him quickly and turned around. She left Dirty Muriel's and took a moment to orient herself. She then took off with surprising speed towards the docks, jumping occasionally because it was quicker than just running, and she needed to be working on jumping more. She jumped right over a Telvanni guard, laughing, and skidded to a stop in front of the docks. Big Helende was just getting on a boat.

"Wait! I've got that retort you needed!"

Big Helende looked up and smiled at her protégé. She asked the harbormaster if he would agree to wait for her a few minutes. He nodded and Big Helende got back off the boat and went to see Chaos.

"Chaos, my daughter, hello. You have the grandmaster's retort for me?"

"Yup." Chaos handed it over. "You better appreciate that, I had to kill a Corprus Stalker for that!"

"Well, then it's a good thing you've been working on your skill with a bow isn't it?"

"Yes, thank you. I love you too."

"Ah, but am I wrong?"

Chaos smiled and rolled her eyes. She looked back at Big Helende just in time to see her troubled look as she put away what appeared to be a letter. Immediately she became worried.

"Big Helende? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, my daughter. Nothing." She tried and failed to give the young Bosmer a carefree smile. "It's nothing."

"Or so you want me to believe. Big Helende, you can't lie to me. I know you too well." Big Helende sighed and gave up the pretense, sitting down heavily on a nearby rock. "Yes, you do." Somehow the letter had reappeared in her hands. "But I will not tell you," she said resolutely. "It's a burden you don't need right now."

"Well, if you won't tell me…" Quicker than Big Helende, even with her Altmer reflexes, could react, Chaos had ducked in, stolen the letter, and hopped out of reach. "I'll just find out myself." She shook the letter open and started reading. Big Helende jumped up and tried to snatch it away before she could finish, but Chaos was too quick for her mentor, who was getting on in years (even for an Altmer, a race known to live nearly a thousand years, barring dangerous lifestyles). Chaos' brow wrinkled as she read. She looked up when she reached the signature, worried.

"Big Helende? What does this mean?"


	2. Rank

A/N: i made up the word n'wah'ni. it means, basically, bullshit. 

Big Helende sighed. "Do you have any jobs that need doing?"

"Nothing that can't wait."

Big Helende sighed again. "Come on. Come to Balmora with me. I can explain on the way."

"Wait, shouldn't we get a guild guide if we're going to Balmora?"

"Ah, yes, I never told you. I was expelled from the Mages Guild long ago. Guild guides refuse me service, that's why your next job is to go hire a wizard from the Mages Guild. I'd do it myself otherwise. But don't worry about that yet. Come on."

* * *

"The Camonna Tong is what!"

"You heard me. I know. It's bad. We should have seen it coming. They've been far too quiet since you carried out the bloodbath. Oh, don't look so shocked. Everyone in Morrowind knows it was you. Didn't you notice that people seemed to recognize you a little bit more after that? Your reputation skyrocketed. You took out five Camonna Tong in a matter of minutes, and without getting a price on your head. I couldn't have done that. I didn't think anyone could have before you."

"Still. Why wouldn't we think that didn't scare them enough that they started minding their own business?"

"That is what we thought. It just appears we were wrong. We should have known the Camonna Tong wasn't going to give up that easily after fighting so long. But you heard me. The Camonna Tong is moving against us, harder than they ever have. Every Toad and Footpad Sugar-Lips knows of has been killed. Every member below Bandit and not under the protection of a boss has been killed. You're lucky. You've had no reason to go where there are other Thieves without bosses. Pelagiad is the only town with any Operatives or Blackcaps left, and that's only because of Pelagiad Fort. The Camonna Tong doesn't want Imperial attention, not yet."

"Why are we going to Balmora? Why are we leaving Sadrith Mora unprotected?"

"I left Rissinia in charge. He's a good man, even if he is a man. If you'll pardon the pun. Although, I can't really talk. You're the only mer I'd trust in charge. But he is a good person, plenty worth his salt. He'll keep things running, and he can take care of everyone while I'm gone."

"Why me? I'm just a Blackcap."

"N'wah'ni. You know you'd be a Bandit or better if you wanted advancement."

"But I don't."

"I don't know why. There are so many privileges of rank that come once you hit Bandit. You could barter and train with bosses; the lower ranks would respect you far more. I don't know why you insist on remaining a Blackcap."

"Fine. Then I want advancement."

"Okay. Congratulations, you are now Chaos the Bandit."

"Yay."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well, with this business with the Camonna Tong, I have a feeling rank will come in handy."


	3. Only Hope

They rode the boat to Ebonheart, then to Vivec, where they got a silt strider the rest of the way to Balmora. They would have walked, but there wasn't time enough, and Chaos was tired.  
  
"Wake up, serjo. We're here."  
  
Chaos woke with a start. She gazed around wildly until her eyes settled on Big Helende. She sighed in relief. Big Helende looked down at the girl she considered like a daughter and gave her what seemed to be a much-needed hug. Chaos relaxed into the embrace and hugged back.  
  
"Bad dreams?" Big Helende said once they parted.  
  
"Don't tell Sugar-Lips."  
  
"I won't."  
  
Chaos usually didn't care who did and didn't know about her frequently disturbing dreams, as long as they weren't Temple, but Sugar-Lips was a Khajiit, and the Khajiit had their own radical superstitions about dreams, so Chaos always avoided mentioning her dreams to Sugar-Lips, Ra'Virr, Rabinna, or any other Khajiit.  
  
"Come on, let's go."  
  
"Wait."  
  
Chaos shrugged off the extravagant robe she always wore, revealing a green common skirt, and a white shirt with a green vest. She put on an almost complete set of chitin armor. Everything but the helmet and shoulder pads. She sheathed her Last Wish at her side and wriggled back into the robe. Big Helende was impressed. The armor was completely hidden. She stood up, the robe swishing around her feet.  
  
"We need to stop by Caius' house. He'll want to know about this, if he doesn't already."  
  
"Okay. South Wall first."  
  
"Okay."  
  
They crossed the Odai, passing the council club that was the site of the infamous Balmora Bloodbath. They went under an archway and past a cluster of urns to the South Wall Cornerclub. Chaos noted the absence of Sottilde from her usual post near the door, nodded to Arathor as she passed him, and smiled at Sugar-Lips when they came around the corner to her.  
  
"May you walk on warm sands, serjos," Sugar-Lips greeted them.  
  
"And yourself, friend."  
  
"Where is Sottilde?" Chaos asked before Big Helende had a chance to say more. "I noticed she was missing."  
  
Sugar-lips' face fell. "She was in Tel Mora on a job for me. Those n'wah Camonna Tong got her."  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry."  
  
"It is in the past. Habasi does what she can to avenge the death of her friend."  
  
"That's why we're here," Big Helende said. "What else do you know about these Camonna Tong attacks?"  
  
"It is worse than Habasi thought when she wrote you. It appears the n'wah have allied with the Dark Brotherhood. The Camonna Tong hit the Thieves Guild, while the Brotherhood hits the Morag Tong and Fighters' Guild. The Camonna Tong and Dark Brotherhood help each other out when needed and otherwise stay out of each other's way. Our only hope is to get the Mages' Guild on our side. We also need to appoint more bosses for protection. Pelagiad, Suran, Caldera, and Molag Mar, to start, all get bosses. Every Thief ranking Bandit or higher is now eligible to become a boss. Habasi has written to Gentleman Jim Stacey and Aengoth the Jeweler, asking them here to Balmora so the new bosses can be elected."  
  
"Why not get the mages and the fighters and Morag Tong on our side?" Chaos asked. "I know they don't like us, but while we're all being attacked, maybe we should stick together. Surely they'll see that too."  
  
"Eydis Fire-Eye will never agree, Habasi fears. Sjoring Hard-Heart is stupid, but in charge. Percius Mercius, Habasi thinks, might see the logic and agree if he were still in charge, but alas, he is not. And the Morag Tong would never shame themselves to ally with the outlander Thieves Guild."  
  
"Is it worth a try?"  
  
"Is it worth a life?" Big Helende shot back. "Any Thief proposing this to any Fighter or Morag Tong would surely be killed. We are marksmen, sneaks, and negotiators, not warriors. No Thief stands a chance in open combat against a Fighter. The Mages are our only hope." 


	4. Informant

Knock-knock.  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
"It's Chaos."  
  
The door to Caius Cosades' little one-room shack opened. "Ah, Chaos, come in. Er…" he paused, spotting Big Helende. "Who's your friend?"  
  
"This is Big Helende. She's in the Guild. Don't worry, she's okay."  
  
"All right. Come in, both of you." Caius still looked unhappy about having a stranger in his house, but Chaos was a good Blade, and he would trust her with his life. Besides that, he'd learned the hard way that questioning people's informants only got you into more trouble than keeping your nose out in the first place would have.  
  
Once everyone was comfortable, Chaos sitting on the bed, Big Helende standing at it's foot, and Caius sitting at the table, Chaos spoke.  
  
"What do you know about the Camonna Tong's most recent activity?"  
  
"Not a lot, I'm afraid. I know they're moving against the Guild, picking off everyone in the smaller towns. As far as I know, most put up at least a bit of a fight, save for the few who got caught unawares without their weapons. It's only started the past few days. I've got people looking into it."  
  
"And that's all you know."  
  
Caius nodded. Chaos looked at Big Helende. Big Helende shook her head. Chaos shrugged and looked back to Caius.  
  
"We've got a bit more. Every Toad and Footpad, and most Wet Ears that Sugar-Lips over at South Wall knows are dead. Every Wet Ear, Blackcap, and Operative not under bosses, other than those at Pelagiad, are dead. They're also allied with the Dark Brotherhood. They help the Brotherhood against the Morag Tong and Fighters, and the Brotherhood helps the Camonna Tong against the Guild. We're planning to appoint new bosses, but we think the Mages Guild is our only real hope."  
  
"Makes sense. The Morag Tong doesn't quite hate outlanders as much as the Camonna Tong, but they don't welcome them with open arms, either."  
  
"Right. And the Fighters are too concerned with honor and status to be much willing to help the Guild," Big Helende piped up. Caius nodded.  
  
"I can't think of much else you should be doing that you aren't. It seems you've got it handled. As long as you stick together and work on the Mages, you should come out on the other side."  
  
An hour and a glass of flin each later, Chaos and Big Helende left the Spymaster's house. They were going down the steps back towards the South Wall when Chaos sat down heavily.  
  
"Chaos? Are you all right?" Big Helende sat down next to her protégé, concerned.  
  
"I'm just scared. I've dealt with the Camonna Tong before but…I've had no experience to prepare me for this. The Camonna Tong is like the big pack of cliff racers coming after me in the night, and there's not a lot I can do to stop them."  
  
"Ah, yes, but cliff racers are easily felled. The key is just to have the right weapon, and to fight them one at a time." 


	5. Dark Times

Chaos sat nervously outside the Council Club. The former Camonna Tong hangout was the safest place she could think of without leaving Balmora, and Sugar-lips could think of nothing better. The Camonna Tong were brutal, not stupid, and they'd had the place well protected with spells. The only reason Chaos had lived to tell of her bloodbath was because the first time she walked into the club, she didn't have any intention of killing or stealing anything from anyone inside.  
  
Chaos was on the steps of the silt strider port. Big Helende, Sugar-Lips Habasi, Aengoth the Jeweler, and Gentleman Jim Stacey were all inside. She was just wondering what was taking so long when they emerged. Big Helende came over to her.  
  
"Congratulations. You're now the Caldera Guild Boss."  
  
"Me? Why?"  
  
Big Helende shrugged. "I had to appoint a Guild Boss. You're the only mer I trust. Seemed to work out." Big Helende sighed. "Dark times are ahead, my daughter. Dark, dark times."  
  
Chaos was asleep in the South Wall. She was resting before taking a Guild Guide to Caldera in the morning. She slept fitfully, mumbling occasionally. Big Helende slept in the same room on a temporary bedroll. She was awoken by a particularly loud mumble. She sat up in time to see Chaos' back arch as she gave a cry. She was sure Chaos was about to start screaming, but what did happen was much, much worse.  
  
Chaos gave a long, keening, desperate cry, like that of a blighted animal to whom death will not come. It broke Big Helende's heart and chilled her to the bone. She tried to wake Chaos up, but to no avail. Big Helende was worried. She didn't think her protégé had ever had a dream this violent, and she didn't like it. Suddenly she sat bolt upright and her eyes flew open. Her voice was low and gravelly.  
  
"He comes now. All shall greet him as flesh, or as dust."  
  
And then her body relaxed. She lay down and slept peacefully once again 


	6. Shenk's Shovel

In the morning, Gentleman Jim Stacey officially pronounced Chaos a Guild Boss. She seemed to remember nothing about the dream, so Big Helende didn't bring it up. Chaos walked into the Mages Guild, handed the guild guide 11 drakes, and stepped onto the platform. She closed her eyes in Balmora and opened them in Caldera. She nodded to the guild guide there, and went downstairs, stopping to talk with no one. She was nervous, both about the Camonna Tong and what she might find in Shenk's Shovel. She knew she shouldn't be as nervous as she was; there was too much of a Legion presence in Caldera for the Camonna Tong to strike here yet. But she couldn't suppress the nagging feeling that something was wrong.  
  
Chaos was looking over her shoulder as she entered Shenk's Shovel, so she didn't see the inside until she stepped in a puddle. She heard the splash and looked down. Her first instinct for the red liquid under her boot was spilled sujamma, but then why didn't she smell alcohol? She knelt down and dipped her fingers in it, rubbing them together. It was thick, sticky, and starting to clot. This gave her pause, and her eyes slowly followed the puddle to it's source.  
  
There lay Shenk, drowned in his own blood.  
  
Chaos looked up. Everyone in the tradehouse had been slaughtered.  
  
When she had finished throwing up, she donned quickly her shoulder pads, helm, and shield, and unsheathed her Last Wish. She had a list of Guild members working out of Caldera. She went through the club, checking names against bodies. The self-preserving side of her was screaming to run, get out, run, run and never look back. But Big Helende had trusted her, and she had a duty to do.  
  
Everyone on the list was dead. She swallowed the bile that was rising again in her throat and left as quickly as possible. She stopped the nearest guard. He stared at the tiny, blood-covered elf before him.  
  
"You. Shenk's Shovel. Need see."  
  
Chaos didn't notice him open the door, then fall back in horror and call all the other guards in the area. Somehow she found herself in Dirty Muriel's in Sadrith Mora. She knew Big Helende had returned there. She rounded a corner and saw her mentor.  
  
"Dead. All dead. Camonna Tong…got them. All dead."  
  
Big Helende caught her before she fell to the ground. 


	7. Feverish

Chaos woke up to a cold, damp cloth on her forehead, a quiet voice singing a gentle tune, and a throbbing headache. She groaned as it's full scope hit her. A Breton woman, who was beginning to get on in her years, turned. 

"You're awake. Good. I'll go alert your Altmer friend."

Chaos groaned again. Big Helende sat in the chair next to the bed.

"I failed you."

"Don't be ridiculous. How?"

"Wasn't fast enough. Could've protected. Too late. All dead. Shenk drowned in his own blood…gods." Chaos coughed, a terrible hacking cough, born of too long spent in a fevered sleep.

"That's not your fault. If it makes you feel any better, you weren't the only one to arrive to a bloodbath. Or a tomb."

Chaos opened her mouth to say something, but fell back into a fitful sleep before the words made their way out. Her energy sapped, she fell into a fever.

* * *

She slept for three days and three nights. The Breton healer said that this fever, no Cure Common Disease potion would cure; this had to go away on it's own.

Big Helende returned to Dirty Muriel's, but she checked on Chaos as often as she could get away. The morning of the fourth day, the healer was beginning to worry. She said if Chaos hadn't woken by that evening, they would have to take her to the temple. It was a bad choice, the healer acknowledged, but possibly Chaos' only chance if she hoped to outlast this fever.

She said this mere minutes before Chaos' fever finally broke and she woke up. The healer ran to fetch Big Helende, who had just left, and returned with the Altmer following her. Big Helende went to Chaos and hugged her, the cold sweat that stuck Chaos' hair to her face soaking into her shirt.

"Thank Almsivi you're all right. You are all right, aren't you?"

"Yes, Big Helende," Chaos said in a schoolgirl monotone, the warm, loving, protective words and old runes from her dream still ringing in her ears and passing through her vision. "Fear not, for I am watchful."_ Many fall, but one remains..._

From that day forward, Chaos was a little darker, a little quieter, a little less boisterous. A little jaded. She had seen death before, but not like that, and not so much in one place. And just as she would always remember the bloodbath of Balmora, she would always remember the bloodbath of Caldera.


	8. New Face

CLASH! 

Chaos put all the strength and body weight she had onto her Last Wish before pulling back. Her breath came heavy, and she smiled slightly with the rush of the fight.

Two months had passed since her fever. She had been somewhat drifting along since then until recently, when she decided she couldn't be a zombie forever, else someone eventually would mistake her for a real one and try to kill her. She had decided to start training up her Short Blade skill. She was mostly hopeless with any magic that didn't come in the form of an enchanted weapon, a constant effect clothing item, or, occasionally, a scroll. She wasn't even very good with potions. And she couldn't rely on stealth with the Camonna Tong, because a thief trying to steal from a thief will have about as much success as a normal person trying to steal from a normal person. That is, not much. So fighting and combat were the only things she had to fall back on. She had trained her Short Blade skill until the trainer had said he couldn't train her anymore. She knew he was a Master Trainer, so she furrowed her brow and said:

"Why?"

"Your endurance. It isn'tgood enough. You have to learn by practice from now on."

With some quick talking and maybe a drake or tenpassed under the table, she convinced him to be her sparring partner so she could continue training.

She was forced back to the present when her trainer rushed forward, striking hard with the blade, and she was forced to defend. But she wasn't quite hasty, her defense rushed, and a cut appeared on her arm, just in the dent between muscles. She swore under her breath and put a hand over the cut, dropping her blade. Her trainer, out of breath, sat down on a bench in the room. He had barely caught his breath when Chaos pulled her hand away, the cut already scabbing and healing. A scar would remain, but the wound would be gone in an hour.

"Did you have a healing potion on your hands?" The man asked, befuzzled. Chaos shrugged.

"I've always been a quick healer." Satisfied that she was no longer actively bleeding, she picked up her sword and rolled her shoulders, loosening up for her attack.

* * *

She left sore and hobbling from a twisted ankle. She suspected she had broken it, but again, she was a quick healer, and now it felt as though she had just wrenched it, not done any serious damage. Although she hurt, she was still pumped from the adrenalin of battle, eyes wide and shining, skin flushed, breast heaving and nipples diamond-hard. She went to the nearest cornerclub, where she had again been appointed as a Guild Boss. Most of the men and mers in the place greeted her. She spoke to a new Wet Ear that needed a job, giving her the simple task of finding a few scrolls, and advising her to look in Sadrith Mora or Caldera. She sat in her usual place, the adrenalin not going down from lack of activity. She took care of a bounty a Toad had managed to get, spoke to a barmaid quickly, and joked with some of her higher-ranking Guildmates.

Then, the door swung open to reveal a new face. An attractive Dunmer man walked in, surveying the place with an air of "I've come, I see, now for the conquering bit." She stood, thinking to put him in his place.

"I like your shirt," she admired. "Too bad it looks like an Ashlander made it." Chaos finished the taunt with a smile. The men and mers behind her laughed appreciatively.

"That's a lovely skirt. It really shows off your lovely legs." Chaos was sweating from her training session by the time she was finished, and had donned only a knee-length purple skirt and a pair of pale purple shoes. "What time do they open again?" More laughter, much louder this time, and a few cheers. Chaos just smiled.

"At least I've got something attractive about me. Not something I could say for someone with the face of a guar." Laughter again, and cheers.

"Now really, is that any way to talk about your mother?"

Chaos looked at him for a moment, eyes burning. Then she laughed, a truly mirthful laugh that lasted a good minute and brought tears to her eyes.

"Oh it's been so long since I've met someone who could match me in wits." She offered a hand to shake. "Chaos."

He picked up her hand and kissed it instead of shaking it. "Ileimo Drojas."

"Oh, you think you're an amazing flirt, don't you. Let me guess. House Hlaalu, Class is Rogue, and Guild? Well. You wish it were Thieves."

"Ah, but how do you know I'm not Camonna Tong?"

"I like you too much for you to be Camonna Tong. Plus, you've got an outlander accent. Come, sit, have a drink with me."

"Wait. Business first. Might I join the honorable Guild of Thieves?"

"You might. Congratulations, you are now Ileimo Drojas the Toad."

"Almsivi watch over you, Boss Chaos. And I'll have that drink now."


	9. Awkward

"Doesn't this remind you of the game you played as a teenager?"  
  
"Frighteningly, it does."  
  
Chaos and Ileimo were locked in a closet, and Chaos had left her picks with the rest of her things back at the building where she trained. Her small shack was just next to it, so she didn't worry, but she didn't by any means enjoy being locked in a dark closet with no way of getting out. What was worse, the closet was barely big enough for one person, let alone two. They had been shoved in rather hastily, but their shovers had been sure they ended up face to face. Chaos was strong from training, and she fought with all of that considerable strength, but she was still small enough for her friends (former friends, she thought moodily), to simply pick her clear up off the ground and place her in the closet.  
  
So now, here they were. Somehow his arms had ended up circling her waist, and his knee was pressed between her legs, and movement, no matter how small, was a bad idea unless she wanted to test the adrenalin explanation for her body's response. She'd walked in from training over two hours ago, so it would be a lame excuse.  
  
"So."  
  
"So."  
  
"Here we are."  
  
"Yup."  
  
"I think I may know an unlock spell."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"No. I don't have enough magicka for it."  
  
"Oh. Could you teach me?"  
  
"Not in the dark."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Awkward silence.  
  
"Are they ever going to let us out?"  
  
"Ummm…"  
  
"Oh gods."  
  
"Well, yes."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"But not until it sounds like we're…"  
  
"Having sex?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They're drunk, and they've been telling me I need a man."  
  
"So your friends are all male."  
  
"I have other friends who aren't, but they're not here."  
  
"Ah." A pause. "Are any of them sober?"  
  
A shake of the head. "No."  
  
A sigh.  
  
Awhile later, Chaos spoke again.  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"It can't be past 2."  
  
"It feels like it must be morning."  
  
"I can still hear laughing. It sounds like they're getting ready to leave." A pause. "They wouldn't leave us here all night, would they?"  
  
"Not unless they forgot about us. But we might be best off making noise to remind them."  
  
"Like pounding on the door?"  
  
"Could try it."  
  
Chaos remembered the movement issue when their sudden pounding forced them both to shift weight in what would have been a most satisfactory way. Gulping and steeling herself against her senses (a trick any child born in prison learns quickly), she started shouting at her friends.  
  
"I know you're out there! I smell you breathing! Let us out! You can't make us spend forever in here!"  
  
"Yes we can!" came a muffled, slightly slurred shout from the other side of the door. "At least, we can until you come to your senses! So how about it? Have you realized yet that you were made for each other?"  
  
"Ripping Ileimo's shirt open as quietly as possible, Chaos shouted back. "Of course!" She pulled her skirt up so that it rested over Ileimo's knee instead of between them. She pulled the waistband of her skirt down so one razor-sharp hipbone jutted out, and did the same to Ileimo, talking all the while. "How could we not with you gods of matchmaking on our side?" Ileimo muffled his laughter at the barely suppressed sarcasm in Chaos' voice. His face straightened and her hands threaded through his hair just as there was a click and the door swung open.  
  
Chaos raised one eyebrow as the most sober of the group (who still wasn't that sober) examined the scene.  
  
"How do we know you haven't staged it?"  
  
Ileimo just smiled in response. He touched Chaos' cheek to make her look up at him, and kissed her with such an intensity that had she not still been straddling his knee, Chaos would have fallen to the floor because her knees went weak and would not have held her. He pulled away, biting her lip slightly, and smiled at the group, who was whooping appreciatively.  
  
"Satisfied?" 


	10. Dive

A/N: Woohoo, long one. Hot off the press. I was writing this and talking to my friend going "the chapter won't end. I'm sitting here and writing and waiting for it to end but it's NOT. HAPPENING." and now it has. so woo.  
P.S. hi max.

A/N2: yes, i am fully aware that they go from talking about his sister to kissing in WAY too short a time. i plan to rewrite this chapter when i have time.

"All right, what's wrong?"

"What? Nothing."

"It's obviously something. You're not paying attention. I shouldn't have gotten near you on that last strike. Now you're nursing a cut in the side two inches deep. A little deeper and you'd probably be dead."

"Quick healer, remember?"

"You can't heal from death."

Chaos sighed. "I know." In truth, she had been thinking about Ileimo. Thinking of his kiss. Thinking of kissing him. Thinking of how she liked it. Thinking of how she wanted to do it again.

She shook her head and pushed the sharp features and burning red eyes to the back of her mind. This was no time to act like a lovestruck teen. She had training to do.

* * *

That evening, in the tradehouse, she smiled at the young Wet Ear who handed her two Summon Golden Saint scrolls and a Scroll of Ekash's Locksplitter.

Chaos gave her a closer look. Upon inspection, she was astonishingly young, probably not but eighteen or nineteen. She was a Dunmer, a bit taller than average and rather skinny and awkward. She had the pinched, slightly unhealthy look of someone who is just coming out of a growth spurt. She was no prettier or uglier than any young Dunmer on the streets, but Chaos saw in her the potential to be beautiful, once she gained some weight back from said growth spurt. Her eyes were expressive and her hair was a bright red.

"I'm sorry, I can't remember your name."

"Aylana Drojas, Boss Chaos." Her voice was soft and pretty. Chaos could almost hear a bit of herself in the…

Wait.

Drojas?

"Please, just Chaos. Any relation to Ileimo Drojas?" Chaos asked casually.

Aylana smiled. "You know my brother?"

Chaos laughed. "Aye, I do indeed. I was forced to get to know him quite well, in fact."

Her young, soft (for a Dunmer, which was really still only slightly less sharp than average) features lit up in delight. "You're the Bosmer Ileimo was stuffed into a closet with!" She shrieked with delighted laughter. Ignoring the quizzical looks from around the corner, Chaos laughed at the young girl's delight at this bit of gossip. Aylana grabbed her hands, still grinning.

"You're to be my next sister-in-law! Ileimo took quite a fancy for you from that." She faltered. "Don't tell him I told you that," Aylana said, leaning in and lowering her voice.

"He told you that, did he?" Chaos asked, still smiling, but for more than one reason now.

Aylana smiled. "Bo- Chaos. He's my brother. He didn't have to tell me. The mere fact that he mentioned you is a sign you interested him. And the fact that I was able to eke the entire tale out of him...well." Aylana smiled again.

Aylana turned and Chaos looked up at the sound of the door opening. It was Ileimo. Aylana turned back to Chaos, smiling and raising her eyebrows. "I'll leave you two alone then, shall I?" With a last furtive smirk, she let go of Chaos' hands and strode over to the door where her brother held it for her. Ileimo nodded to her. "Sister."

Aylana curtsied slightly. "Brother." Even from behind, Chaos saw her torso swell with barely suppressed laughter. Chaos could hear her begin to giggle as soon as she was out the door. Ileimo walked over, a puzzled look on his face.

"I see you've met my sister. What was she so pleased about? And what are you smiling at?"

Chaos' smile widened. She shrugged. "I don't know. So, Toad, why have you come to see me?"

"Why, to admire your lovely outfit of course." He smiled dashingly and took her hand, kissing it. Chaos just laughed out loud. She was wearing a green skirt, a white shirt with a green vest, and a pair of black shoes. The green skirt stopped mid-calf, and if Chaos wasn't mistaken, she caught him looking at the bits of exposed leg.

"So why did you pick Earthly Delights for the guildhall, and not the tradehouse?"

"There are more cliff racers out that way, and I hate cliff racers. Plus, this place is much nicer to look at," Chaos said, with an appreciative look at the dancers. Ileimo's face fell a little.

"Look that way, do you?" He sounded disappointed.

Chaos shrugged. "Yes. Just to look, though. Women satisfy my eyes. It's men who satisfy my body. To be perfectly blunt about it," Chaos added as an afterthought.

Ileimo laughed and nodded. "Yes, I'll admit that even I look the other way occasionally, if a particularly choice specimen happens to walk by." Ileimo smiled conspiratorially and leaned a little closer. "Don't tell Aylana I said that."

Chaos grinned. "Am I getting myself into the middle of a sibling war here?" she asked, thinking of Aylana's earlier words.

"No, just healthy sibling rivalry. She'd have a field day if she found out I really did look at men occasionally."

"So she tends to blow things out of proportion?" Chaos hoped she didn't sound like she was fishing as hard as she was.

Ileimo shrugged. "No, she'd just tease me about it. She's my baby sister, and I love her and would protect her with my life, but we are just like any brother and sister. Always squabbling and teasing each other over one thing or another."

Chaos nodded, satisfied, and tried to keep the small smile creeping onto her lips back. "I never had a brother. Or I might have, I don't know. I was born in prison. I was raised by the group, not by just one or two people who might have been my mother and father. The one hint I ever got was my father was transferred to a different prison as soon as my mother started to show. They told me they beat my father's name out of my mother, and she nearly lost me in the process, but I hung on. They beat him too and transferred to him to an even worse prison that was all male. Since I was born I was beat up on, both by the guards, and by the few other children who were born in the jail. I was the only Bosmer child, and I was always small even for my race and age, so I was a prime target. I wasn't in a position to perform magic, and they sure didn't let us, especially the children, have weapons, because the prison was mostly full of dangerous criminals, so the only option left to me was stealth. Keeping out of the way enough and not attracting attention enough to survive. When I was released, it only seemed natural that I become a thief."

Ileimo nodded. "I had a fairly normal childhood. I was eight when Aylana came to us, and my older brother, Ryvan, was ten when I came, so we were fairly spread out. I was of common birth, and we made a prosperous little living off the local eggmine. My father was rather high up in the ranks of the mine, but he was humble, and we had a comfortable enough life. Aylana and I grew up with full stomachs and good clothes. But I still coveted what I sometimes saw when we traveled to towns that had nobility. Extravagant robes, huge manors, armies of slaves and servant. I was never good with a word or a scroll so I turned to theft. I was prosperous enough to make Aylana want to be like her big brother. She's just getting started. Watch out for her, will you?" Suddenly, for a moment, Ileimo was a big brother, worried about his baby sister. "Don't give her anything she can't handle."

"I won't," Chaos said seriously. "I promise."

"Don't baby her either, though. She'll notice and she won't stand for it."

Chaos smiled a little. "Hm. Sounds like me."

Ileimo touched her cheek to make Chaos turn her head. "Aylana's a fiery one. And somehow it doesn't surprise me that she reminds you of yourself."

Before either really knew what was happening, Chaos was again experiencing that intense kiss that made her knees weak, and she was lucky this time that she was sitting on a barstool. Ileimo pulled away quickly as he realized what he was doing. And looked at the ground a few feet in front of him.

"I'm sorry, I –"

"No, it, it's okay." Chaos turned his head back toward her.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me to presume -"

"No, it's okay. Actually I was sort of hoping that it might come over you again…" and she kissed him. She reflected vaguely that the fire in his kiss did not cool with time or experience. His hands got involved this time, the tips of his fingers working their way under the hem of her shirt and stroking softly, lightly. She made a small sound of pleasure and her hips moved forward an inch instinctively.

Helviane Desele smirked at the Bosmer and Dunmer stumbling up the stairs toward the rooms, trying not to detach their mouths in the process.


	11. Attack

A/N: thanks to the two of you that reviewed. patience, kiddies. all in good time.  
  
Chaos laughed as Ileimo spun her around. The men around her clapped in time, whooping occasionally. Aylana was singing and playing the lute, and another man had a set of pipes. Chaos had indulged herself and bought a nice skirt the other day, and she loved how it swished around her legs as she danced. Nearly eight months had passed since Chaos had met Aylana and Ileimo. She had trained with a short blade until she could outbattle her trainer almost every time, when he had determined that she had mastered the skill, and there was nothing more for her to learn. Twice had the skill come in handy when she had had to protect Earthly Delights from Camonna Tong attacks. Everyone had fought to defend the place, including Ileimo, Aylana, Helviane, and even, sometimes, the dancers.  
  
Aylana was gaining weight and filling out, and she'd proved that her awkwardness did not prevent her being rather good with a dagger. Chaos admired the girl's intelligence to sneak around behind the attackers and stealthily stab them from behind. Most of the time the attackers noticed after only one or two of their comrades had fallen, forcing Aylana to abandon her strategy and fight alongside the rest, but the small difference was the crucial bit that brought victory, for it was close each time.  
  
Chaos was getting more and more cautious and frugal with her people. She had started sending people on jobs in pairs. She encouraged people to sleep in the tradehouse instead of their own hoes, or else have many protection spells on their homes. Helviane Desele put in two more beds to cope with the new demand, and started stocking and selling Restore Fatigue potions for nights all the beds were full. Those who insisted on going home were escorted by Chaos, and big groups would leave at once. More and more, jobs people went on were to procure armor or weapons for themselves, not for the Guild. Most things that were for the Guild were, again, armor, and went to protect bosses or others who could not leave their position long enough to get it themselves. Gone were the days when Chaos' first job for the Guild was to find a diamond.  
  
But she was thinking of none of these things. She was thinking of music, and of twirling, and of the man twirling her round and round and round till she was dizzy.  
  
"Oh, Maurrie and Nelos, their love grows every day, a charming thief, who caused no grief but swept her jewels away, oh he swept her heart away…" Chaos threw her head back and laughed out of happiness. Nothing could spoil this now. The lute and pipes stopped and the men joined in singing. Chaos and Ileimo smiled at each other and slowed their dancing. Both were flushed and sweaty from the vigor of their activities. Out of the corner of her eye, Chaos saw a Dunmer, obviously native, slip in. He was a little older than Chaos, but not by too much. Perhaps equivalent to 30 years of age for a mortal. Seasoned, but still young. He nodded to the few drunken men who greeted him and took a stool a little apart from the group. He looked around the group, in an appraising kind of way. He looked as though he was keeping disgust or hatred (or both) off his face. As Aylana began another song, Chaos signaled to Ileimo that she needed to sit. Ileimo went to sing with Aylana, and Chaos took the barstool next to the stranger.  
  
"Hello. What might your name be?"  
  
He gave her an appraising, slightly distasteful eye. "Odral Denalis."  
  
"Chaos," she said, offering a hand to shake. After a moment of his looking at it as though it were a blighted rat, she withdrew. "What's your trade?"  
  
"Thief."  
  
Chaos nodded. "Me as well. Not here to join the Guild, are you?"  
  
He glared her in the eye. "Why would I want to do that?"  
  
"Well, thief such as yourself, no faction to speak of…"  
  
"What makes you think that?"  
  
"So you do have a faction?"  
  
He eyed her again. "Yes. Camonna Tong."  
  
Her smile, which she'd held firmly in place slipped slightly. "Oh." Saved from any further discussion with this undoubtedly dangerous man, another song started, and Ileimo was waving her back to the dance floor. "Well, it appears I'm being summoned. Good evening to you, then."  
  
Chaos stepped into Ileimo's arms as Aylana and the men started up a lively jig.  
  
"We've got a problem," she said through her teeth, smile firmly in place.  
  
"Do we?" Ileimo asked as he spun her around twice. "I thought we were miraculously free of problems at the moment."  
  
"See the newcomer?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"He's Camonna Tong, probably a scout. I think we may have an attack before the night is over."  
  
"Why do you think that?" Ileimo asked, pulling a bit further away and taking both her hands in his to do a complicated kicking step.  
  
"Just a feeling."  
  
Ileimo nodded. If there was one thing he'd learned in the past eight months, it was to trust Chaos' instincts, because they were never wrong. Or at least, they were wrong rarely enough that it hadn't happened in the past eight months. Chaos threw her head back and laughed, as much out of joy as to keep up appearances, because even with the threat of a Camonna Tong attack looming, it was hard not to see the bright side of the moment.  
  
What she didn't see, however, was a man in the back. A hand slipped around his mouth and his eyes went wide as the tip of a dagger became visible through his belly, pushing his shirt out slightly, but not ripping it. The hand and dagger disappeared and he slipped off his stool to the side, dead. Odral Denalis spit on the body, wiped his dagger on the n'wah's shirt, and slipped out. Chaos noticed him leaving.  
  
"He's left. He wasn't here long. I think he's a scout."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Positive. We've probably had our first casualty already."  
  
Just as she said this, Ileimo spun Chaos around, and she caught sight of her fallen comrade. She stopped and rebounded like a band of guar muscle. At the edge of her consciousness she was aware of Ileimo's voice asking "Chaos? What is it? Are you all right?" The edges of her vision were red, and everything around her, all the joyous sounds, were drowned out by blood rushing through her ears. Ileimo looked where her gaze was fixed, and saw Vodunius Niscius, a middle-aged Imperial, lying on the ground with blood pooling around him.  
  
Suddenly, all hell broke loose. Ileimo shouted the finding to the entire cornerclub. A Redguard and a Nord began hauling the body to a back room to be buried later, and everyone drew daggers and shortswords and hastily threw on whatever armor they had. They sat nervously for a long while, and just as a few were beginning to put daggers away and take alcohol out, the door burst open. 


	12. Old Friends

The first thing that happened was that a steel arrow shattered a jug of sujamma. The second thing that happened was a chitin arrow imbedded itself in Chaos right shoulder, effectively deadening her favored arm. The third thing that happened was all hell broke loose. 

The Camonna Tong came in shooting, shouting, and swinging. A young, relatively inexperienced Dunmer with a glass dagger came after Chaos. She drew her Last Wish and took a swipe at him, but the gush of blood down her arm and fresh stab of pain made her cry out and turn the thrust into a feint. There was nothing else for it. Chaos switched the sword to her left hand. As good as she was with a short blade, she was clumsy with her left hand. Finally she got in a thrust to the belly. She let the poison spell do its terrible work, then pulled it out as he fell. She barely had time to get her balance before another Dunmer came after her, this one much more experienced. Chaos was much harder pressed to take him down.

By the time she did the battle was winding down. This was where numbers counted. For every Thief on the ground, there was at least one Camonna Tong with him. Aylana and Ileimo were fighting three Camonna Tong together, backs pressed together so none could get behind them. The dancers, who were wearing a bit of armor they'd looted off of fallen men, Thieves and Camonna Tong alike, were none too good with short blades, but dancing as they did got them quite fit, especially in the areas of jumping and other acrobatic skills, and they were able to jump on tables and into rafters to avoid damage and get as many advantages as they could.

* * *

"Chaos, wake up. Chaos?"

Chaos picked her head up and looked around. She was on a bedroll at the end of a row of bedrolls, an injured Thief on each roll. There was a pile of bodies and injured Camonna Tong in the corner. Chaos was utterly confused.

"What happened?"

"You passed out."

"Really? I don't even remember."

"You wouldn't. Someone cast a spell on you from behind. My brother saw you just in time and saved you."

"Ileimo? Where is he?"

"He's all right. He's reporting this to his contact in the Legion."

"I should report it to Caius," Chaos said, beginning to sit up.

"Don't you think you should rest first?" Chaos heard an Altmer voice, female, and a smile began to spread across her face. "That hole in your shoulder does look quite painful."

Chaos turned and saw her old mentor. She smiled weakly and would have jumped up, had she had the strength. "Big Helende. Good to see you."

"And you, my daughter," The Altmer said warmly, squatting down and taking her hands. Chaos began to get up painfully, but was pushed back down by Aylana and Big Helende.

"You're not going anywhere. You're not strong enough."

"I don't care. I promised Caius I would report to him every attack, and I have done so in the past. I will continue to do so today."

"You've never been hurt before. Not this badly. At least wait half a day," Aylana pleaded.

"No. I have to report. My duty to the Blades comes before almost everything. Only the Guild takes precedence."


	13. Stubborn

Between them, Big Helende and Aylana were able to keep Chaos on the bedroll a good 10 minutes. They both had to run around tending to other Thieves, and it wasn't long before Chaos was left alone long enough to get up and out the door. Big Helende sighed, finished up with the patient she was working on, and jogged outside. 

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Balmora."

"Not walking you're not."

"I'd take a horse but those are rather hard to get on Vvardenfell."

"At least take a silt strider."

Chaos had been limping along as she spoke, but she stopped. She turned slowly and looked at Big Helende.

"Walking's good exercise."

"Dying's not. What if you happen to encounter an alit or a cliff racer or a wild guar? You'd be right on top of the pile of bodies in there, Queen of the Rotting and Corpsified. You said only the Guild takes precedence; how can you do your duties if you're dead?"

Chaos sighed. There was inescapable logic in that statement and Chaos knew it. "Fine. Silt strider. But as soon as I find healing I'm walking back."

"Fine."

* * *

Caius' jaw dropped when he saw the pathetic specimen on his doorstep.

"Don't let me in or anything," Chaos said moodily.

"Sorry." Caius stepped aside. "What happened to you?" he asked as she hobbled inside.

Chaos eased herself down onto a chair, sighing. "Camonna Tong." Chaos thought she had twisted her knee and probably her ankle at some point, and she eased that leg out straight, wincing with the effort. "We had an attack last night. We came closer than we ever have to defeat."

"So they're getting stronger."

"And the attacks are getting closer together. We weren't even finished rebuilding from the last when this came."

"Hmm. More aggressive, then."

"I'd say so."

"Hmm. This is most interesting. I think it's time for you to go to the Mages."


	14. No

Chaos, Big Helende, Aengoth, Sugar-Lips, Jim Stacey, Crazy-Legs, and Rissinia all tromped off the platform one right after the other. Aylana, Ileimo, and Rissinia's wife followed. Aylana and Ileimo had insisted on coming, arguing that Chaos was too weak to be running off on her own. They had, of course, ignored her protests that there would be six other people with her. Seven, including Rissinia's wife, who was along for her rather superior debate skills. The said platform they were tromping off of was the guild guide platform (Chaos wasn't sure how, but somewhere along the way while she'd been in Morrowind she'd become a Wizard in the guild, and she'd been able to talk Big Helende's way onto the platform) in Vivec, and they were there to entreaty Arch-Mage Trebonius to help the Guild against the Camonna Tong. Jim had hinted that he'd be working to get the Fighters on the side of the Guild soon as well, but he was particularly silent in his way on the matter.

Chaos decided not to ask the guild guide about the whereabouts of said Arch-Mage, as she looked quite harried and there was a long line of people who needed transport. Chaos found the nearest Mage, who happened to be a High Elf called Sirilonwe, and was directed down the stairs into the room below.

The room was large and open, giving a feeling of grandness and purpose and perhaps modest power. Chaos found the scuttleheaded mage shouting at a young Altmer who had apparently failed to learn the language of the silt striders.

"Arch-Mage?" she asked over his shouts, pretending not to have noticed his anger. "Might I have a word?"

"Chaos!" Trebonius greeted her jovially, forgetting completely what he'd previously been doing. "I am humbly in your service. What can I do for you?"

"We're here to discuss something with you."

"Of course! Of course! Yes, I'll have my meeting room cleared immediately!" Of course, Trebonius didn't really have a meeting room, unless you counted the room full of tables where Guild members usually took meals. But he didn't care. The young Altmer looked frightened out of his mind.

"May I go?"

Trebonius turned and squinted at him. "Who are you again?"

"Just go," Chaos advised the Altmer. He quickly went.

* * *

"No." 

"Arch-Mage-"

"No. That is my answer."

"Arch-Mage, this alliance will benefit everyone involved. The Guild has found things for the Mages before. Why, just last week I made a deal with a Mage, to steal a potion recipe from an ex-Telvanni."

"Then I will be sure to see them expelled," Trebonius said coldly.

"Trebonius, you're being unreasonable." Chaos stepped in. She intended to continue speaking, but Trebonius cut her off.

"You are a Master Wizard?"

Chaos was caught off guard. "What?"

"In the Guild, you are a Master Wizard?"

"No, just a Wizard."

"Fine. You're promoted. Master Wizard. How would you like the title of Arch-Mage?"

This was happening a little quickly. "That…I…"

"Good. Then we will duel for the title. Then, should you win, you will control the Mages Guild, including whom it allies itself with. Should you lose, we'll hear no more of this. The duel will be to the death, of course. I expect to see you in the Arena Pit in one hour."

Not giving Chaos time to answer, Trebonius stood and swept from the room. The group of criminals sat looking around at each other for a minute, before Aylana summed up the entire situation with one word.

"Fuck."


	15. Duel

Thirty minutes later found Chaos outside the door into the Pit, sorting her best weapons from her worn netch leather satchel she always carried. The rest of the thieves had gone upstairs to watch apprehensively from the stands while Ileimo and Aylana stood there, trying to convince her she was still too weak to do such battle.

"You don't have to do this," Aylana said as Chaos disentangled a flameblade from some willow anther, trying not to cut the stalks in half or otherwise damage them.

"Yes I do. The Guild over everything, remember?"

"No one ever said you had to die for the Guild. No one will blame you for backing out." Ileimo stopped Chaos strapping blades to her waist with a hand on her arm. "There's always another way. You taught me that."

For a moment, Chaos looked like she might think twice and back out. But then the hard expression was back and Chaos finished strapping the swords to her waist. "I won't die. Trebonius is about as dangerous as a nirthfly. How else do you think he got the nickname Arch-Scuttlehead?"

Chaos finished strapping her weapons to her body and picked up her helm. "I'll see you when I'm Arch-Mage," Chaos said cockily and half-jokingly. She kissed Ileimo quickly, acting as though she were just going across town to get a sword repaired, but her voice was scared as she spoke her next words, throwing Ileimo off decidedly. "I love you."

Aylana raised an eyebrow and looked at her brother, who was looking decidedly confused and perhaps a bit shaken.

Trebonius was there and ready when Chaos walked in, powerfully destructive magic shooting across the room from his hands as he ran toward her. Chaos drew her Last Wish and ran to meet him. She swung hard as he began to say another spell. The strike to his ribs cut him off and a bit of magicka sizzled from his hands. The fight was over quickly as Chaos took a few more swings and got Trebonius on the ground. He drew his staff to try to defend, but a weak swing chopped it in half. Having no more defenses and not having the magicka for a shield spell, Trebonius put his hands up and whimpered.

"Please...spare me...you'll have the title of Arch-Mage...just spare me..."

Chaos closed her eyes and whispered. "Zenithar forgive me." She swallowed hard as her blade dropped. 


	16. Break

Thirty more minutes found Chaos on the walkway of the Arena, leaning over the short wall that was waist-high on most people of average height, but came nearly to her chest. Her glass cuirass and pauldrons lay on the ground behind her as she lost her lunch into the water below. Half the group had gone back to their usual guildhalls, not having the time to hang around, and only Rissinia and his wife, Big Helende, Ileimo, and Aylana remained. Rissinia was standing by a doorway a few yards away, looking uncomfortable, while Big Helende and his wife conversed somewhere in the opposite direction. Ileimo was leaning against the wall near Rissinia, staring blankly out, and Aylana was standing a few feet behind Chaos. As Chaos was wracked by another heave, Aylana came up behind her, looking unsure, and rested a hand on her back, rubbing it gently. Her other hand came up to pull Chaos' hair out of her sweaty face, looking very worried at the flecks of black that seemed to be in Chaos' vomit. 

In not too much longer, Chaos sank down, leaning against the wall and still looking a little ill. The cool stone felt good against her warm back. Aylana came down to kneel next to her. Chaos whispered something indistinct that Aylana couldn't hear.

"What was that?"

"He begged me. He begged for his life and I still killed him."

The words were still low, barely audible, but Aylana made them out. "It was his own fault. He said to the death, not you."

"I could have let him live. He was going to give me the title of Arch-Mage if I let him live."

"He would have backstabbed you. He was never deserving of his title and it was his own idiocy that killed him."

"There's too much death. Everyone around me dies. Everyone around me. Why not me too? Maybe then there's no more dying."

Aylana got maternal at that last part of the statement. That was dangerously close to suicidal. "Now you stop that. Look at me. You look at me, Chaos!" Aylana gave Chaos' arm a shake, and Chaos looked up, her eyes haunted. "Look at me. I'm still here. Look at him," Aylana turned and pointed to her brother. "He's still here. Look at her, and him. Look at us, Chaos." Aylana turned back. "We are _all still here_. And that's what matters."

Chaos looked up. She twisted her head around so she could see the sky. It was hard to believe that only an hour ago she'd arrived in Vivec. But the sky was an interesting overcast gray, and it promised to rain. Chaos smiled. She always felt better when it rained, and Aylana could barely make out her next words.

"There is still hope."


	17. Love

A/N: Just because I'm paranoid, does Chaos read like a Mary Sue? I don't think she does but I see all the things about my writing that everyone else doesn't, so I'm a bad judge. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. Reviews make me happy. And they make me write faster, as I have no idea what I'm doing for the next chapter. I may start rewriting this, cuz there's just stuff, the way things are worded, little plot holes, how characters come off at times and how rocky and unbalanced some of the characters are. I try, I really do to make my characters as believably dynamic as possible, but I know I don't always pull it off. Anyway, finishing with the self-pity, self-hating bit, go read.

Chaos collapsed onto the bed inside her house. The day had been long, and Chaos' throat still hurt from throwing up earlier. She shifted so she could look down and pulled an amulet out from beneath her shirt.

It was in the style of a Hlervu locket, and glowing faintly with enchantment. It was called the Necromancer's Amulet, and Jim Stacey had given it to Chaos. It had been stolen from the Guild some years before, he said, and never recovered until now. It had been found on Trebonius' body, indicating that he might have been the perpetrator, or at least come in contact with them. Either way, it had some useful little enchantments on it, including a restore health effect, and resistance to normal weapons, both of which were always working. Jim Stacey had given it to her, as she was part of the Guild at its heart, and he'd said he could trust her with it. Plus, she had to admit; it was probably going to be dead useful.

She was running a finger over the pale green jewel inset in the amulet when Ileimo came in. She looked up briefly, then looked back to the amulet. A gentle finger under her chin made her look up, and then Ileimo's lips were on hers.

Chaos just groaned. "But I'm tired. Go home. Where's Aylana? Shouldn't you be doing something overprotective and brotherly?"

"She's at her new boyfriend's house. And somehow I doubt she'd like it if I burst in on them wielding a claymore."

"Like you could wield a claymore. You couldn't even pick one up."

"I think that would be you."

"Please. I'm twice as strong as you."

"Perhaps you'd like to prove that," Ileimo said, smirking. He lay comfortably down over Chaos, grabbing her hands and pinning them over her head, trying to kiss her as she avoided him playfully. She flipped him over easily and reversed their positions.

"Perhaps I would."

"I think I like this arrangement," Ileimo said lecherously.

Chaos just rolled her eyes, clambering off him to lie on the small bit of bedspace left.

Ileimo shifted and moved over, wrapping his arm around Chaos' narrow shoulders. She shifted too, rolling onto her side and resting her head against Ileimo's shoulder. A hand came up to rest on Ileimo's chest, the other trapped between them, in front of her just enough that neither party was laying on it. She yawned and closed her eyes.

"Hey now, I do have to go home sometime."

"Mm don't care," Chaos mumbled, nuzzling in insistently. "I had a bad day, humor me," she said, sleep already in her voice.

That she had, and Ileimo couldn't get around the fact that he was inclined to agree with her. So, he just rubbed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head, letting her fall asleep. Aylana wouldn't be too worried, he supposed. Indeed, if she even came home tonight she'd probably be so tired she wouldn't notice Ileimo was even gone.

Ileimo lay there with a woman in his arms and thought about what the aforementioned woman had said to him earlier that day. It was the first time either of them had said it, and Ileimo suspected it had something to do with her going into battle with what promised to be a more formidable opponent than she'd faced before. Which, from what Ileimo saw of the battle, he wasn't, but Chaos had no way of knowing that before she went in. She hadn't mentioned it again all day. They'd both been thinking it for a while, but saying was quite different from thinking. As was doing, came the thought unbidden into his head.

This was another thing. Ileimo didn't know why she'd turned him down. Chaos' usual reaction to death was to want to feel alive. Normally she'd have been crawling all over him. Yes, she'd been tired, but that had never stopped her before. But then, she's never had such an extreme reaction immediately after, Ileimo considered, thinking of her earlier display over the wall. He was feeling rather protective of her recently, he wasn't entirely sure why.

He smiled to himself. Of course he knew why. Was he really going to pretend to be that much of an idiot?

"I love you too," he whispered to a sleeping Chaos, kissing the top of her head again and laying back to fall asleep himself, a smile playing at his lips.


	18. Drunk

Chaos tripped and nearly fell, just barely avoiding taking Ileimo with her, as she opened the door to Caius' house. 

"Graceful and lovely they enter," Chaos said, laughing. Caius just sat at the table looking bemused. He'd met Chaos' boyfriend a few times before, so he didn't object to the presence of a stranger.

"I'd offer you flin but somehow I don't think you need it."

"We went to visit Sugar-Lips down at the South Wall and at least four-was it four?" Chaos turned to Ileimo.

"It was four," he said, nodding drunkenly. "Or was it fourteen?"

"It was four," Chaos said, satisfied, and turned back to Caius. "Four different people gave us free drinks. I had sujamma and shein and greef and more sujamma. He got mazte. I didn't get any mazte."

"Yup, I got mazte."

"Why'd we come here again?"

"Well, I had orders for you, but you look in no fit state to carry them out," Caius said, still looking bemused.

"Psh," Chaos said, a small gob of spit flying across the room. "I can write em down and do it later."

"All right, I suppose." Caius grabbed a quill and started writing as he talked, as Chaos looked incapable of writing particularly well. "Go talk to Bacola Closcius, and ask him about the Nerevarine Prophecies and the Sixth House cult." He only glanced up as Chaos tripped over a floorboard and fell flat on her face, laughing. "You'll probably have to do a nasty little favor for him first, but it shouldn't be too bad." Caius handed the piece of paper to Chaos. "Bring his notes back to me. You can read them first if you want."

"Yesshir, Cap'n." Chaos saluted clumsily and fell over, snoring. Caius looked expectantly at Ileimo.

"Woo. Guess I'm bigger than her. I can hold my liquor better." Ileimo smiled proudly and stupidly, then promptly fell over asleep as well. Caius just shook his head and hoped no one would come by and question him about the two elves on his floor. Caius considered moving Chaos to the bed, as she was barely 100 pounds and easily movable, but decided against it as he was probably going to bed soon himself.

* * *

Chaos woke up with a massive headache. She looked around and realized she was on the floor of Caius' house. Asleep in the bed was Caius, and next to her was Ileimo, similarly asleep. She squinted at a piece of paper she was holding, trying to read it in the low light and through the sleep still in her eyes. She elbowed Ileimo as she read. By the time he was awake and sitting up she'd read the paper.

"And it's off to the Fighters we go."


	19. Arkgnthand

A/N: ha. morgan finally figured out hard rule. i'm gonna through all the chapters and put in hard rules so that hopefully most of it's easier to read.

CLASH!

"Ow!"

_Thud._

These were the three sounds that were heard, in quick succession, as Chaos entered the training room of the Fighters' Guild. The first was a burly Imperial swinging a sword into Chaos' armor. The second was Chaos crying out in surprise and some pain as the sword cut her just barely through her bracer. The third was Chaos as she hit the ground, knocked over by the force of the blow.

"Sorry, thought you were someone else!" The Imperial said, grabbing Chaos by the arm and hauling her back up. She took a moment to regain balance and took her bracer off, inspecting the damage. As expected, the cut was already scabbing over and sealing up. "What can I do for you?" he asked, helping Chaos beat the dust from the dirty floor off her armor. Chaos caught his wrist distastefully and pushed it back to him. Ileimo wasn't with her. She'd sent him back to Suran to keep an eye on the Guild while she dealt with things in Balmora.

"Caius sent me. He told me to ask about the Nerevarine prophecies and the Sixth House cult."

A slow smile spread across the Imperial's face. "Did he now."

"He did," Chaos replied evenly.

"Well, I suppose that could be arranged. But…I'll ask you a favor first."

"I expected as much."

"There are some Dwemer ruins nearby. Arkgnthand."

Chaos rubbed the bridge of her nose. She still had a bit of a hangover and didn't feel like trying to figure out how he'd managed to pronounce six consonants in a row. "And?"

"There's a Dwemer Puzzle Box inside. A cube with some symbols on the side, no bigger than my fist." He held up a fist to demonstrate. "Though probably a deal bigger than yours."

Chaos made a vague hand motion that probably could be correctly interpreted as a demand to have this sped up. "And?"

"Bring me back this box. That's all."

"What's the catch?"

"Nothing. Bring me the box and you'll have your notes on Caius' questions."

Chaos turned to leave, mostly ignoring the Imperial as he called one more thing towards her.

"Be careful, won't you? I hear it's been overrun by bandits."

* * *

Indeed it had, but they were defeated with almost laughable ease, including the man she presumed was the boss. The puzzle box took some doing to find, but she found it and exited. She didn't like the eerie clanking noises that came from unseen depths in the ruin and didn't feel like investigating the sense of impending violence she couldn't shake. She took the walk back to Balmora at a leisurely pace, enjoying the rain that had started while she was inside. She tossed the cube at the Imperial casually once she found him. He handed her a sheaf of paper.

"There are my notes on the Nerevarine prophecies. I don't know much about the Sixth House. All I know is that they've got something to do with smuggling on the Bitter Coast. Ask Sharn gra-Muzgob at the Mages for that."

"Thank you very much. Anything else?"

"Maybe. Come back a little while from now and if this puzzle box is what I think it is, I'll have something for you."


End file.
